Tennessee Paramedic Supervisor Struck by Lightning

LAWRENCEBURG, Tenn. --

Everyone knows emergency medical technician's are in the business of saving lives. But right after a Lawrence County EMT got out of an ambulance, he had to get right back inside.

Paramedic supervisor Ryan Smith said, "About 11:30 or 12 last night it started getting really windy, a lot of lightning. There was a very big lightning show."

On Thursday night, downed trees outside the Lawrence County EMS building showed only part of the wild night they had Wednesday evening.

Smith said, "We had been out on a call about five miles away, and when they got back to the station here, he was going from one building to another when lightning struck the building and inevitably struck him."

Ronald Buttrum told Channel 4 over the phone Thursday that he felt dazed and confused.

Buttrum said he looked up at the sky and saw lightning spinning all around him. He said that's when he said he felt something hit him in the right side of the face. He was near a metal pole at the time.

"He definitely did take a lightning strike. His partner was here, and she said she actually did hear it pop," said Smith.

And while paramedics are used to saving other people, they aren't used to saving one of their own.

"It was an adventure, I guess you could say, something you don't do every day," said Smith.

Buttrum, who was released from Vanderbilt Medical Center on Wednesday, said his doctors told he hasn't felt the worst of it yet.

"A lot of times, the reaction from lightning could go on for weeks, even months down the road. You could still have problems down the road," said Smith.

Buttrum said that he was so thankful that somebody was right there with him Wednesday night. He also said that doctors didn't think he took a direct hit.

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